Captain Britain Omnibus

by Chris Claremont, Herb Trimpe (Illustrator), Marvel Various (Writer)

Follow the United Kingdom's greatest champion from the streets of London to the mystic realm of Otherworld! Brian Braddock, hand-picked for greatness by the sorcerer Merlyn, has made the fateful choice between the sword of might and the amulet of right - and become a hero! Now, thrill to a complete collection of Captain Britain's iconic UK adventures - from questing alongside the Black Knight to battling Jim Jaspers and the Fury to prevent Earth from becoming a crooked world! But when Brian suffers a crisis of faith, will his sister Betsy inherit the mantle? Featuring the Special Executive, the Warpies, the Captain Britain Corps, Meggan and more! Collects the Captain Britain and related stories from CAPTAIN BRITAIN (1976) #1-39, SUPER SPIDER-MAN & CAPTAIN BRITAIN #231-247, HULK COMIC #1 and #3-46, INCREDIBLE HULK WEEKLY #47-55 and #57-63, MARVEL SUPER-HEROES (1972) #377-388, DAREDEVILS #1-11, MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL (1983) #7-16, CAPTAIN BRITAIN (1985) #1-14 and MARVEL TALES (1964) #131-133 - plus MARVEL TEAM-UP (1972) #65-66, NEW MUTANTS ANNUAL #2 and X-MEN ANNUAL (1970) #11.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fantasy

1360 pages, Hardcover

Published April 12, 2022

About the author

Chris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.

Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.

Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had my eye on this for a long time and finally jumped on it when Hamilton Book had it marked way down to $50 from $125. Even $50 felt like too much.

First off, the Alan Davis drawn material is by far the best part of the book written by Alan Moore, Dave Thorpe, Jamie Delano, and Davis himself. That's maybe 450 pages of a 1300 page book.

Prior to the great Alan Davis material, the rest of the book is mediocre to good. There is some Bronze Age fun and even a page I recognized from How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way but you have to eat a lot of crap in the first half. One thing that I find funny about Captain Britain is that it only started getting good once they ditched the old costume and gave him a more standard set of powers and threw out most of the stuff the American creators set up.

There was a point that I kept pressing on so I'd know what was going on in Excalibur rather than out of enjoyment. I greatly overestimated my capacity for Captain Britain before reading this. If I could do it over again, I'd track down reprints of the Alan Davis material.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely the longest it’s ever taken me to read a book. Over a month, gee willikers Batman. But I had a lot of family functions, trips out of state and others things going on. Anyhoo, this omnibus collects all the early beginnings of Captain Britain as he moved from the back of many different titles as Marvel was trying to get this new character going. Captain Britain 1-39 was the beginning. These were all like 8-9 pages and had him in his earliest adventures. Nothing too exciting here just a bunch of fighting someone new almost every issue. No real character progression. This stuff was ok.

Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain 231-247 saw a bit more continual story telling which made this part a little more interesting. Plus slightly better villains. All of this became black and white.

Hulk comic and all of Hulk Comic Weekly was pretty solid. This was one big ongoing epic where the Black Knight joined the party. Merlin had them on a quest to get to Otherworld and help them fight off evil hordes that were advancing on castle Camelot. A lot of cool characters and villains here. Had some fun with this stuff.

Marvel Super Heroes 377-388, Daredevils 1-11 and Mighty World of Marvel 7-16 saw the color come back and Captain Britain get his new costume. Here is where Alan Davis took over on art. This got of to a sort of clunky start with Dave Thorpe writing but soon started to come together. Then Alan Moore takes over writing and this became the best stories in this omnibus. A really cool cast and plot with Saturnyne, Mad Jim Jaspers and the organic/machine being known as the Fury. Great stuff.

Captain Britain 1-14 was mainly scribed by Jamie Delano and Alan Davis. This was pretty good too. Through all of this we also get the first appearance of Meggan. I never knew she looked like a demon when she first came on the scene before she shed that to look like she does now.

Glad to have gotten the whole Captain Britain back story and feel ready to read the Excalibur omnibus when I continue my X-Men/Mutants reading.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is so often the case in these exhaustive omnibus collections, you have to wade through a lot of mediocrity to get to the gems. Make no mistake, this collection IS exhaustive, collecting every scrap of Captain Britain possible, from first appearance through the brink of his joining Excalibur, although it oddly omits a Captain America appearance that was included in an earlier, slimmer version of this omnibus. The Alan Moore and Alan Davis penned stories are the aforementioned gems, the rest ranges from decent to dear-God-let-this-end-already. Worthwhile, but if Marvel publishes a collection of just the Moore stuff, jump on that instead, unless you HAVE to have everything, like me.

[Rob Marney · Rating 4 out of 5]

The back half of this omnibus is pure, incredible superhero drama. Alan Davis brings not just great art, but rich characters and a human touch, while Alan Moore brings an epic story that hits even harder than Miracleman. Grant Morrison and Chris Claremont write backup stories, while Jamie Delano weaves the plot threads together. This is some of the most underrated Marvel comics ever written.

The front half of this omnibus is awful Silver Age nonsense. Imagine every lazy trope from aliens to Arcade to "A button I've never pressed on my magic staff! I wonder if that will save me?" and repeat it five times. Captain Britain talks about soccer, that's how British he isn't. Skip the first 440 pages and do yourself a favor.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

The transfer isn’t the best but knowing what they created it from, this book is a wonder we even have it to hold in our hands. I love Captain Britain and there is just no convincing me otherwise.

[Caleb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof, okay, how to review this one? The problem with this omnibus is that it covers a lot of ground across a lot of titles to give us a mostly complete look at Captain Britain before he began appearing in comics stateside. This is a cool idea in theory, and for hardcore fans of the character, I'm sure it's a great book. For me, it's extremely hit or miss.

The problem is that a good chunk of the book is very dated, simply written, and barely intriguing to read. I get that we're back in the mid 70's as comics were still transitioning out of the pulp styles of the previous decades, and I'm sure no one was thinking of an overly developed universe for this character. I mean, we have a decent enough origin story for the Captain, and then a couple well written arcs to capture the imagination. The quality of the writing drops off eventually though, and it's a long time before it comes back.

This is where I can see how awful it must have been to be a fan back in the day. The book lost popularity so the stories were merged into another title as a backup feature, and then moved to another title, and another, and then it got it's own comic again, and then it was merged into Black Knight comics for a while. It's not until that final title that the character started to become interesting again, and the writing improved.

Then he was moved to another title with much better writing and art, and another title after that. Somewhere in here is where Alan Davis comes in and saves Captain Britain from becoming another forgotten monster/villain of the month title. And finally, we get the cameo in Uncanny X-Men Annual 11, and that is basically a prelude to Excalibur.

I'm sure I probably missed something in all of that (a couple issues of Marvel Team-up I think), but yeah, Captain Britain as a character was a pain in the ass to read back in the day, and sadly, while there are some great stories in here, there are a lot of duds as well. I honestly caught myself skimming through some of the issues because they were that boring to read (the one with the robotic eagle/falcon? for example). For the hardcore fan this is an amazing collection, and even if you don't plan to read all of it, having the original origin story and then the stuff from Black Knight onward is hard to complain about because that is some solid storytelling and what keeps me from rating this any lower. There is a lot that can be outright skipped if it doesn't engage you though, which is too bad.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. Includes every printed appearance up to Excalibur #1, hard to find issues, all collected here.
2. Lots of different creators, all of them top notch.
3. The Delano issues which is when Betsy goes blind? Amazing


Negative? This thing is massive, I have the digital copy and it cannot download all at once and slows my kindle down massively.

Captain Britain (Brian Braddock) really isn’t a main character, he’s more like a central character around whom everyone else swarms while stuff happens. Doesn’t hurt the storytelling, just never noticed it.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read Psylocke after she joins the X-Men and some Captain Britain in Excalibur, I was curious going into this. I will say that reading the series in the order of this book is not a good way to do things. I took several long breaks as I’m reading this alongside Uncanny X-Men Omnibus #1 , Uncanny X-Men Omnibus #2 , X-Men Classic Omnibus , and Uncanny X-Men Omnibus #3 , along with others. The contents of this omnibus were released over more than ten years, so that’s certainly one way: take long breaks from the endless pointless fighting until you get to Hulk Comic UK and read the significantly better material more consistently from there. I’d actually maybe recommend reading from Hulk Comic UK, but jump to the end after issue 30 and read the abbreviated version of his and the Black Knight’s history from issues 31-41. You could also read the first ten issues of the first Captain Britain series and then jump to either Hulk Comic UK if you love dark fantasy or Marvel Super-Heroes if you want to start with the Alan Moore craziness. You could start there or in Daredevils, but I’d recommend trying to start early and skipping to the next jumping on point if you’re not feeling it. This series is pretty crazy, and there’s a ton in the middle that I really do regret spending the time on, which is something I don’t say often, but I think overall, I’m glad I finally caught up with Britain’s first superhero. Early Alan Moore has the weirdness, and Alan Davis’ art is gorgeous.

Captain Britain (1976) #1-39 ⧫ 1.5 Stars
This starts fine and goes off the rails. I feel like this series showed scant moments of hope only to string me along as nonsense action just constantly happened. The eight page chunks just can't do anything. Honestly, just skip to Marvel Tales #131-133 at the end of this and read that version of his origin; then, start with the Marvel Team-Up. That's my recommendation.

Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain #231-247 ⧫ 1 Star
This is literally not worth reading. I don't think I enjoyed any of it. It is bad.

Marvel Team-Up #65 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “Introducing, Captain Britain”
The first stateside appearance of Captain Britain, and it’s pretty fun, certainly compared to the series it came from. A neat and logical fight between the two along with a full introduction, given the character hadn’t been seen in U.S. comics. Also, I’d just start here, probably. It also hints at the hot new villain: Arcade.

Marvel Team-Up #66 ⧫ 3 Stars “Murder World”
Arcade’s plans are revealed, and it’s the first full appearance of Murder World, which is super gimmicky, but I love it. Courtney Ross, Captain Britain’s love interest, shows up with no introduction, though honestly she just got injured and healed with little fanfare or development, so I don’t even really know her. I guess she recovers from trauma quickly. This also has the major Marvel Team-Up problem of having little wrap up, which is a shame. Claremont and Byrne would bring Arcade and Murderworld to the mainstream in X-Men #123-124.

Hulk Comic (UK) #1,3-30 ⧫ 3.5 Stars "The Black Knight" & "Captain Britain"
According to a feature at the end of this omnibus, this was meant to give Marvel’s British heroes a flavor and style of their own, and it works so much better than the original Captain Britain one. It’s in more of a fantasy style with a ton of mystery surrounding why the characters are present and what is happening. The battle with the Nether Gods is much more interesting, given that the heroes have time to reflect and make moral choices. It’s everything that this series hasn’t been.

If you’re curious about the origin of the Black Knight, jump to his abbreviated origin at the end of this Omnibus in Hulk Comic (UK) #37-41. There’s also the Captain Britain origin, but it’s better elsewhere.

Hulk Comic (UK) #42-46, Incredible Hulk Weekly #47-63 ⧫ 3.5 Stars "The Black Knight"
The series itself finishes on a high note. It’s got some cool sword and sorcery with a surprising end.

Marvel Super-Heroes #377-388 ⧫ 3 Stars "Outcasts" "--The Junkheap That Walked Like a Man!" "In Support of Darwin!" "Re-Birth!" "Against the Realm" "Faces of Britain" "Friends and Neighbours" "Attack of the Binary Beings!" "If the Push Should Fail?" "A Crooked World" "Graveyard Shift"
The early Alan Moore is really cool, but the story gets very slapstick and reference heavy. Alan Moore arrives, uncredited for the last four issues, and the series gets much, much better. So much better it gets a relaunch in a new title.

Daredevils #1 ⧫ 4 Stars “A Rag, a Bone, a Hank of Hair...”
This is probably the real place to start reading about Captain Britain because this is essentially a recap of everything that came before, but it makes it all coherent and ominous. It does have the big danger of making it sound really cool, which from my point of view is what makes these good. It also adds and and changes context for several events.

Daredevils #2 ⧫ 4 Stars “An Englishman's Home...”
Another flashback to several earlier stories that plays with both the character’s and the readers’ perspectives. I’m not sure how I feel about his decision at the end, but this is by far te

Daredevils #3 ⧫ 4 Stars “...Thicker Than Water”
I’m mostly giving this the higher rating for the proper introduction of Betsy Braddock, purple hair and all. The plot itself is a bit simple, but it’s very effective.

Daredevils #4 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “Killing Ground”
Props for bringing back a cheesy villain and making him a big threat. It’s like Moore is going back through the trash of the first series and going with the cool and effective version of it. It’s a solid battle issue if a little predictable.

Daredevils #3.5 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “Executive Action”
Davis’ art continues to stun with Moore doing a decent job with some new characters while still playing with Britain’s previous continuity.

Daredevils #6 ⧫ 3 Stars “Judgement Day”
Very euro-comic, but not terribly interesting. Still, rad art.

Daredevils #7 ⧫ 3 Stars “Rough Justice”
First use of Earth 616, and it’s really random, thrown in as part of a recap. Wild. I like the alternate varieties of Captain Britain, but I also want this series to slow down a little. There are currently three or four storylines going on, and I just want a little more characterization.

Daredevils #8 ⧫ 3 Stars “Arrivals”
Things settle a bit, but it would still be better to get to know some of these characters.

Daredevils #9 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “Waiting for the End of the World”
A nice idea, but it still isn’t really dealing with many of the characters.

Daredevils #10 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “The Sound and the Fury”
More cool fights, more random character deaths.

Daredevils #11 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “But They Never Really Die”
Okay, I’ll give this series one thing, I am sad about the multiple guy’s predicament. I also like the divide in the groups as it’s more personal than what’s come before.

Mighty World of Marvel #7 ⧫ 4 Stars “The Candlelight Dialogues”
The introduction of Meggan is weird, but very cool. This is a better introduction to the Jaspers threat than most of the standard stuff that’s been happening in the series.

Mighty World of Marvel #8 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “The Twisted World (Reprise)”
I wonder how much retreading is just because of the insane publishing history of the series as this is the third different magazine Marvel UK has put this in. This has some differences, notably in tone that I appreciate, though. Also, it helps that I have a fondness for Betsy based on where she goes in the future.

Mighty World of Marvel #9 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “Among These Dark, Satanic Mills”
More buildup.

Mighty World of Marvel #10 ⧫ 2.5 Stars “Anarchy in the UK”
Not my favorite type of issue.

Mighty World of Marvel #11 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “Foolsmate”
This is more my type of fight with a pretty surprising ending.

Mighty World of Marvel #12 ⧫ 4 Stars “Endgame”
I actually really like how this ends, though I still would have preferred some more downtime to get to know the various characters.

Mighty World of Marvel #13 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “A Funeral on Otherworld”
I’m a little mixed about the epilogue. Betsy gets nothing. Saturnyne gets everything. The Captain Britain kiss at the end is pretty funny.

Mighty World of Marvel #14 ⧫ 4 Stars “Bad Moon Rising”
Alan Davis takes over with the reintroduction of Meggan, and I feel very relieved at finally getting a small story with a returning character.

Mighty World of Marvel #15 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “Tea and Sympathy”
Mostly good, though the joke ending feels somewhat out of place.

Mighty World of Marvel #16 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “In All the Old Familiar Places...”
This is a solid end to this phase as Captain Britain gets his secondish self-titled book.

Captain Britain Vol. 2 #1 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “Pictures, Puzzles, and Pawns”
Jamie Delano, most famous for some of the best Hellblazer stories teams with Alan Davis for most of this series, and he’s a welcome addition. I was just complaining about my issues with Betsy, and this pretty much makes up for that, despite yet again needing to recap the history of Captain Britain.

Captain Britain #2 ⧫ 3 Stars "Law and Disorder"
I’m not thrilled with the return of the Crazy Gang, but they’re treated a little better here. Their hijinks feel more earned and they actually convey a pretty serious threat.

Captain Britain #3 ⧫ 3.5 Stars "Flotsam and Jetsam"
Slaymaster turns Captain Britain over to Vixen, and he gets some more fleshing out. Slaymaster might be my favorite Captain Britain villain. I commented during Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain #244, one of the many low points of the early series, that Slaymaster could have been very funny, but he didn’t pull it off then. The weird thing is that Moore, Davis, and Delano have reworked him into a serious threat and this reveal is also pretty funny. It’s kind of a measure of how far this character has come.

Captain Britain #4 ⧫ 3.5 Stars "Sid's Story"
Dark and sad, but also pretty good.

Captain Britain #5 ⧫ 4 Stars "Double Game"
It’s a pretty good battle issue, and I was worried about the end, but the next issue handles it better.

Captain Britain #6 ⧫ 4 Stars "A Long Way From Home"
This is a pretty cool issue that finally shows Betsy’s potential.

Captain Britain #7 ⧫ 4 Stars "Things Fall Apart"
Dark portents and some interesting developments for the Mastermind computer.

Captain Britain #8 ⧫ 4 Stars "Childhood's End"
Some more dark hints at Meggan.

Captain Britain #9 ⧫ 3.5 Stars "Winds of Change"
Another flurry of characters that don’t get much development, though the fight and portents are pretty cool.

Captain Britain #10 ⧫ 3.5 Stars "African Nightmare"
This issue also has me worried, but handles it well enough. In both this and the next issue, I wanted more, and I wish these issues were a little longer.

Captain Britain #11 ⧫ 3.5 Stars "The House of Baba Yaga"
Some more mysteries and revelations about Meggan, though again, I want more!

Captain Britain #12 ⧫ 3 Stars "Alarms and Excursions"
Some silly comedy fare with a good cliffhanger.

Captain Britain #13 ⧫ 3 Stars "It's Hard To Be a Hero..."
This really should have been a longer issue buildup, but the series was about to be canceled again before it got folded into the rest of the Marvel Universe. Shame, it has promise.

Captain Britain #14 ⧫ 3.5 Stars "Should Auld Acquaintance..."
An all too quick end for a good series.

Captain Britain #11-14 ⧫ 3 Stars "Playgrounds and Parasites! (Part 1-4)"
This is a cute little backup story about the warpies.

New Mutants Annual #2 ⧫ 3.5 Stars “Why do we do these things we do?”
Alan Davis really handles the insanity of this issue well. It’s an issue where feeling trumps sense, and it’s the art that holds it together. Psylocke officially collides into the X-Books, though she bookends the issues. It’s Doug Ramsey who gets main character status with an assist from Warlock, and I really like his journey. If all Mojo stories were like this, I probably wouldn’t despise them so much.

Uncanny X-Men Annual #10 ⧫ 3 Stars “Performance”
This is sort of the less-good retread of the previous issue. Also, the graduated New Mutant costumes look terrible. The one good thing is that Psylocke continues to worry about her eyes. Thus, Britain and Psylocke enter the Marvel Universe proper. Psylocke continues as an X-Woman, and Captain Britain himself needs to way a year to appear in Annual 11.

Marvel Tales #131-133 ⧫ 3 Stars "The Saga of Captain Britain" "Rebirth!" "Trial of Iron"
The Captain Britain origin, now in color! This might be the easiest version of his origin to just read, though it’s not much

Hulk Comic (UK) #31-36 ⧫ 3 Stars "Captain Britain"
An incredibly abbreviated version of Captain Britain> Vol. 1 #1-4,6-7,25,29,32-38 and Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain #234-235,239 and maybe a panel or two from Marvel Team-Up #66. Sadly, it’s mostly just an early origin and fight recap, which cuts out his family moments (bad cut) along with the stupidest enemies from his original series (very good cut), so I can’t really recommend just reading this.

Hulk Comic (UK) #37-41 ⧫ 3 Stars "The Black Knight" & "Captain Britain"
It has a bit of Avengers #48 and more Marvel Super-Heroes #17. It gives a basic background for Dane and Mordred. It has a little more character, though I feel like Dane had more at this point.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1985 Captain Britain series, by Jamie Delano and Alan Davis, came out just when I was getting into Marvel Comics. Friends bought it occasionally: it was beautiful but baffling, lyrical in a way the American comics just weren't, full of surreal characters who bore no relation to anything I'd seen in Spider-Man or Secret Wars. But there was another reason I shunned it, unrelated to quality: Captain Britain was kind of a loser.

After reading 1300+ pages of this monstrously exhaustive omnibus - almost every scrap of Brian Braddock material is here, from the heights of Alan Moore's most straightforward superhero run to the depths of Larry Lieber's most generic one - is it time for me to reverse that cruel adolescent judgement? Sadly, no. Captain Britain really IS kind of a loser. He spends his adventures confused, misguided, amnesiac, terrified, the dupe of mystical forces, the pawn of multiversal ones, or most often simply outmatched. Not that it's difficult to outmatch Captain Britain: many a hero would have a tough time against omnipotent Mad Jim Jaspers and the unstoppable Fury, but this is also a guy who spent four issues failing to defeat a radio controlled hawk.

On the level of exciting superhero yarns for small boys, this clearly puts him at a disadvantage - it's no real mystery why, even at the late 70s height of the British comics market, Marvel UK couldn't make their flagship character work. Kids can spot when they're being sold a pup, and they can smell a knock-off miles away. There's a real awkwardness to Captain Britain which summarises the overall problem with British superheroes - American writers struggle with superheroes being British; British ones struggle with British people being superheroes. In the end it's Moore's take on Captain Britain that's stuck - a well meaning posh boy miles out of his depth in a much darker, weirder world than he realises - but it's also true that nothing in his earlier adventures contradicts that at all.

Some reviews of this advise you to start when Davis and Moore come on board in fairly quick succession, around the halfway point of this omnibus. There's something to be said for that approach if you want to read stuff later writers built on more, but the early material is only sometimes as bad as its reputation, and is always interesting as different creators - some excellent in their own right - try and work out what 'superheroes with British characteristics' might actually involve.

The most straightforward of these is Captain Britain's creator, Chris Claremont, who landed the gig because he'd been born here (Herb Trimpe, the artist, supposedly got the job on the strength of one holiday in Cornwall). Claremont equips Captain Britain with a solidly traditional supporting cast - relatives, a love interest, a superhero-hating cop - and an origin involving Merlin offering a choice between the Sword Of Might and the Amulet Of Right. Our hero picks the amulet and we're off to the races.

Claremont's stories are stodgy superhero fare with a mild level of British flavouring: when he leaves the book, Gary Friedrich turns that level fully up, the vindaloo to Claremont's tikka masala. This phase is Captain Britain at its most bizarre, incompetent and inadvertently entertaining. He battles punks! The Queen gets possessed! There's a fight between two characters dangling from the hands of Big Ben! The truly gonzo material unfortunately runs out leaving us with stories that are simply very bad (mostly by Larry Lieber) but ropey plots aside this is an attempt to do a Captain Britain that owes something to the Avengers TV show and James Bond - a British take within the Marvel formula.

Ultimately, the experiment in a Marvel style British superhero was a failure, and Captain Britain spent a couple of years in limbo before reappearing as a supporting character in Steve Parkhouse and John Stokes' Black Knight strip. This is the first Captain Britain by a British team and the first that feels like it's trying to do something unique with the character - delving into the folkloric elements Claremont gestured at by having Merlin involved with the origin, and adding in CS Lewis or Alan Garner portal fantasy elements. It's also the first Captain Britain stretch that's honestly enjoyable on the level of being a good children's fantasy comic - with its 3-4 page episode lengths and tight, atmospheric storytelling it could easily have seen print in Valiant or another IPC or DC Thomson title. Captain Britain himself doesn't achieve much, but by this time that's par for the character.

Understanding Captain Britain as a fantasy character more than a superhero is key to what makes him work. He blends four different strands of British fantasy - Arthuriana in his origin, portal fantasy with journeys to Otherworld, Lewis Carroll whimsy with his bizarre and reality-bent or -bending cast, and Doctor Who style science-fantasy in his aspect as a multiversal voyager. The final two of these fall into place with Dave Thorpe and Alan Davis' arrival as writer and artist - Thorpe brings in parallel universes and strange, whimsical villains, while Davis establishes the through-the-looking-glass *look* of Captain Britain's skewed universe very quickly, even as his style and skills mature over his several years on the strip.

Reading the Thorpe run in particular is eye-opening - reprints of the Moore episodes tend to leave it out, even though it introduces a bunch of that run's most important characters, and its central storyline - should Captain Britain help an outside force unilaterally "push" human evolution on a backward, fascist Earth? - is an intriguing one*. It underlines that Moore had all the ingredients he required for his stint on the comic, which does two things, one very successful, one more ambiguously so.

First, Moore is the guy who brings the fantasy elements present in Captain Britain together in a way that feels holistic and which sets a tone for his stories ever since. The synthesis of Carroll, Who, King Arthur and Alan Garner works here in a way it never quite has since, with the rapidly-evolving Alan Davis the perfect guy to make the strange mixture sing on the page. But second, Captain Britain becomes a superhero comic again, and to the extent that it creates anything new it creates the "grim and gritty" reboot that came to define the 80s. Captain Britain's fantasy sources are wild and dark but also often thrilling and joyful. Moore's story, though, is not joyful at all: on my first read of it in the 90s it felt dramatic and unpredictable. But now I know the basic outline it's the sadism and brutality that stands out instead.

Perhaps that doesn't matter, because it *is* thrilling: as a craftsman Moore already knew how to pace a page and an episode ruthlessly well, using prose to bully the story into line, establish a cadence, play it out through the episode then end on a cliffhanging payoff. But it's the weakest of his early hits, even so: unlike Miracleman or V or Swamp Thing or Halo Jones there's no thematic depth or sense of a story with a point to it. Yes, that's a criticism you could make of most previous Captain Britain stories not by Alan Moore. But ultimately, he doesn't know what to do with the character either, any more than anyone else did. And most of the best moments he finessed to better effect elsewhere.

The Jamie Delano run that follows it - with occasional dips into writing by Davis himself - is less proficient but more interesting in some ways, those ways mostly being that Delano lets Davis cut loose a lot more, experimenting with layouts and purely visual, lyrical passages - whatever grimness your story includes (and Delano is particularly sadistic towards Betsy Braddock), having Alan Davis on art is a way to bring in magic anyway. If you let him, and Delano does. The 10-year British publication of Captain Britain ends with a thoughtful issue resolving one of the book's longest-running subplots, the pointless feud between the Captain and Inspector Dai Thomas.

And then the characters are handed back to Claremont, who will go on to use them in Excalibur, a book that's often a tribute to the ideas of Thorpe, Moore, Davis and Delano here. Claremont's early collaborations with Davis, an X-Men and a New Mutants annual, finish this vast book. Both are very fine examples of Claremont's own particular tastes in fantasy and phantasmagoria, elevated - as so much of the Omnibus is - by Davis' art. In one of them, Brian Braddock gets tempted with his heart's desire - a quiet, boring life as an English Dad. It's a good end for a character which never needed to exist, a verdict even the best writers have been unable to reverse.

*Thorpe left after a falling-out with Alan Davis and Marvel UK editors over an episode which would have stood as an allegory for The Troubles in Northern Ireland - one of a few examples of potential political turns for the strip which were never followed up on. It wasn't until the 21st century that British writers wrote Captain Britain in the way Captain America has often been treated - a way to ask questions about the country itself. The whimsy and fantasy of his 20th Century appearances probably should be seen, at least partly, as a way to avoid crossing those lines.

[Mark Dickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded down from a 3.5.

The good stuff in this is really really good. The bad stuff in here is really really bad. The core Captain Britain story also ends on an anti-climactic, rushed note.

Do yourself a favour and skip over the original run. You don’t need it and you’ve read those stories before.

[Matthew Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Captain Britain Omnibus is a difficult book to review, because it's essentially two different books.

The first half captures the character's early appearances in his own magazine before being moved to the Super Spider-Man UK reprint series and the second half collects when he returned to his own solo series after his initial appearances were cancelled. The back half of the book is largely excellent, the first half is largely not.

That's not to say it's all bad, Chris Claremont writes the first couple arcs of Captain Britain, introducing Brian Braddock and his supporting cast (including a young Betsy Braddock before she becomes Psylocke!) but unfortunately once Claremont left the book (to write X-Men which was definitely the right decision) the quality of the series dropped dramatically, quickly devolving into fairly mindless superhero action that did little to make Captain Britain or his supporting cast interesting. The fact that the book goes from colour issues to black and white at #24 shows that these stories weren't really captivating readers at the time either.

Anyway, Captain Britain's own magazine got cancelled and he was moved to the UK's Spider-Man reprint series as mentioned, but sadly the stories here don't improve in quality and he found himself cancelled. The only issues in this first half of the book I would say are worth actually reading are the initial Claremont issues and #33 which FINALLY remembers the character's mysterious origin story, bringing back Merlyn for some explanation on what's actually going on. Honestly, you could skip the rest of these early issues and be fine, though I would suggest at least skimming them as they do get referenced later.

From here we begin to see a steady increase in quality, going from the bottom of the barrel to some really excellent stuff.

The first uptick in quality is a solid Chris Claremont/John Byrne two parter in Marvel Team-Up, where Captain Britain meets, fights and teams up with Spider-Man, the two also running afoul of the villain Arcade who Claremont would bring back later in Uncanny X-Men.

After this, Captain Britain would share a backup in the Hulk Comics UK reprint with Dane Whitman, the Black Knight. These stories are another boost in quality, having (gasp) actual narrative purpose and direction! These backups do go on a bit long in my opinion, but they're fun and more interesting than what came before, not that that's difficult.

Once that series ended and Captain Britain had people interested in him again, he returned to his own solo backup in some other Marvel reprint comics and this series of stories is the reason anyone remembers Captain Britain at all.

Dave Thorpe and Alan Davis take the reigns, sending Brian Braddock on a multiversal journey with a wonderful new costume design that puts his old one to shame. The sheer quality is immediately on display, and it only gets better from here. Due to some behind the scenes problems, the legendary Alan Moore replaces Thorpe and does a wonderful job shifting the book in his own direction while still naturally developing what came before.

As a fan of Moore it's a real treat seeing him write in the Marvel Universe, and seeing how much respect he pays to not only Captain Britain's continuity but the wider comics landscape as well. Past stories and supporting characters are brought back and built upon, there's actual worldbuilding and I have to say I was hooked reading these issues, hooked. He's able to amplify what came before, the run bearing some similarities to his later work on Swamp Thing as he tears Captain Britain apart to focus on what makes the character work. Brian isn't the most interesting character, but Moore makes him likeable and he carries us through the insanity happening around him. Moore's run does come to a slightly sudden conclusion (again due to behind the scenes problems) but I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

From there, Alan Davis writes a few issues, as do Jamie Delano (of Hellblazer fame) and Mike Collins. There's some definite gems in these issues but I never quite found myself as gripped as I had been with the Moore stuff. We're introduced to Meggan, who will become a vital part of Claremont's Excalibur series later, and we even get to see Betsy Braddock join the X-Men in the New Mutants and Uncanny X-Men annuals collected here.

All in all, Captain Britain definitely left a stronger impression on me when it ended than when it started. I'd recommend any readers to push through the first half (as I said it does get referenced later on making the pain worth it) because the final part of this series truly is an underrated gem. It ended better than it began, and left me with a more positive impression than if it had been the other way around.

[Kip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This epic tome includes all the Captain Britain stories that were published in England (starting in 1976) as well as some mainstream Marvel appearances preceding the formation of the original Exaclibur (in 1987), which is when Captain Britain really entered the spotlight of the wider Marvel universe. Because of the variety of different writers, artists, and narrative directions these stories took, the quality of the stories is kind of all over the place. But there are 3 primary eras that are included in this volume.

Era 1 - Mediocre and meandering 1970s super hero stories. Spanning the first 460 pages of the volume, these stories were published mainly in 1976 and 1977 and try to establish a status quo for Captain Britain. We get his origin story, meet the supporting cast, and encounter some villains who are set up to recur. For the most part this all feels half-baked, like the creative team is working to put out stories with no clear vision or larger goal in sight. The supporting cast are seriously under developed and the most of the villains aren't that interesting. Some of this is likely a result of the fact that these stories appeared in a weekly anthology series, so each episode is only a few pages long but were created under an aggressive schedule. So while some of the stories are relatively short, others feel overly long with episode after episode featuring small twists and cliff hangers every few pages. Overall, these stories aren't very good, the most noteworthy exception being the two Marvel Team-Up issues by Claremont and Byrne, which have Captain Britain travelling to New York and teaming up with Spider-Man to fight Arcade.

Era 2 - The swords and sorcery adventures with the Black Knight. After a brief hiatus from publication, Captain Britain returned in a new series with a whole new creative team and story direction. This Era spans the next 170 pages of the volume. The story features the Black Knight (between stints on the Avengers) on a mission to find the missing Captain Britain and escort him to Otherworld. This is a fun fantasy story with elves and trolls, that expands on Captain Britain's connection to the wizard Merlin and his daughter Roma. These stories are pretty good and are helped by the consistent and capable art team. However, it all feels detached from what came before and what follows. So, it's a pretty good read but it's also easily skipped.

Era 3 - Alan Davis, alternate realities, dystopias, and general weirdness. This is where we get to the characters and tone that Captain Britain is best known for. Though there are a handful of different writers through this time (Dave Thorpe, Alan Moore, and Mike Collins) the through line is really Alan Davis as the artist and sometimes writer (consistently credited as co-creator). These stories make up the next 560 pages. These stories are GREAT, introducing a lot of now familiar characters like Meggan, Jim Jaspers, the Crazy Gang, and Opal Lune Saturnyne. They also reimagine Merlin, Roma, and Otherworld so that instead of being familiar fantasy they exist in a semi-sci-fi semi-magical multiversal space. The stories become much tighter, moving with a better pace and a stronger sense of what was coming next. Though Alan Moore's run on the book is a real highlight, adding more darkness, grief, and uncertainty to the character of Captain Britain, my favorite stories are the ones that follow, that feature Captain Britain, Betsy Braddock (soon to be X-Men's Psylocke), Meggan, and Captain UK picking up the pieces after the defeat of Jim Jaspers and figuring out who they each want to be in the world. These stories are great, both gripping and fun, rich with character growth and hard choices. It's also a pleasure to see how Alan Davis' art develops over the course of the run, growing gradually into the amazing artist that he is by the end of the book. Overall, these 560 pages are not to be missed.

The rest of the book contains cover art, promotional art, alternate reprintings, and other materials.

Is this book for everyone? No. But if you are a true blue fan of Captain Britain, if you love the Alan Davis issues of the original Excalibur series, or if you've been reading the recent books about Excalibur and Betsy Braddock's Captain Britain, then you may love this. Though I'm not normally a fan of these sorts of huge omnibuses, this is one of the very few places where you can read the Alan Moore stories so it makes the purchase of the omnibus worthwhile.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've given this 4 stars. This means I "really liked it".

And a large chunk of it I did really like. Some of it though....

Some of it was a struggle.

I might be best if I just break it down:

It starts off quite well, with Captain Britain (volume 1) #1 by Chris Claremont, who at this point in time was just getting into the swing of things on what would become an epic run on the X-Men. Claremont writes the first 10 issues, giving CB his origin and introducing both Betsy and Jamie Braddock, both of whom are unrecognisable compared to what they would become down the line.

Gary Friedrich takes the baton from Claremont and the difference isn't hugely noticeable. He does a cracking team up with Captain America and Nick Fury against the Red Skull which lasts several issues. It's approximately halfway through this story (issue 24) that the artwork switches to B&W (presumably for budgetary reasons back in 1977). This is a bit of a shame but the art from the always reliable John Buscema is not at all diminished by the change.

Once Friedrich finished up in #36 is coasts a little, whilst the CB strip was absorbed into the Super Spider-Man comic (becoming Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #231 after CB #39) before taking a turn for the boring when Stan's brother Larry takes up the writing. Buscema is long gone on art by this point and it's no big surprise and somewhat of a relief when it ends in #242.

Getting through those later issue was a real chore so it was nice to get to the two part Marvel Team-Up issues by Claremont and Bryne. Beautiful crisp John Byrne artwork, and in full colour again! This is Captain Britain in New York coming into conflict, then teaming-up (as is the way) with Spider-Man, against the villain Arcade (in his debut appearance), who would go on to bother the X-men many times over the years. It's a fun story.

And this point I was desperate to get to the Alan Davis stuff stuff so I must confess, I skipped the entirety of the Black Knight story which is just shy of 150 pages. One day I'll go back and read it!

Now, the main reason I got this omnibus!

It's now 1981 and comics have changed a bit. It's obvious straight away that things are different, starting with the uniform which is immediately done-away with and replaced with the now iconic Union Jack costume with helmet. At this point Davis isn't quite the artist he'll go on to be, but he's still fantastic and although the early issues with Dave Thorpe and Paul Neary are good, you can't help thinking they're kind of just making it up as they go, with no real long term plan...

That feeling vanished when Alan Moore became the writer (Marvel Super-Heroes #387) and what was a very enjoyable strip, became very strong indeed. With Moore, Jim Jaspers and The Fury became forces to be reckoned with and he-reintroduced Betsy (now with purple hair) and Slaymaster who was to be taken a lot more seriously as a threat now. After Moore, the quality stays strong with Davis writing as well as drawing, before Delano comes in and takes us to the end of the Captain's run as a solo story.

We're basically given two bonus Claremont X-Men annuals (new Mutants #2 and Uncanny X-Men #11) to round out this huge volume, which are both excellent stories but fairly inessential when it comes to the the Captain himself.

So all in all a huge book of varying quality but the strength of Davis' stories makes this so worth having, and deserving of 4 stars.

[OmniBen · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 4.5/5
Despite its rather considerable size, this omnibus is effectively only about 400 pages long. For everything that comes before about page 700, and everything after page 100 or so, doesn't actually exist. You think it does. It certainly appears to, given its rather significant physicality. But Captain Britain only exists between 1982 and 1985. Captain Britain was only written by Alan Moore, Jamie Delano and Alan David. And Captain Britain was only ever drawn by Alan Davis. And Captain Britain remains one of the greatest 'superhero' runs I've had the privilege to read yet.
For anyone who caught my wistful, fawning praise of The Question omnibus only a few weeks ago, this aforementioned run on Captain Britain stirs up many similar emotions as that brilliant omnibus. A character who has occasionally popped up here and there over the years, being butchered, retconned and generally destroyed, especially in more recent times. Yet both of these runs birthed something extraordinary into the comic lexicon, for a fleeting handful of years. I adored this run of Captain Britain, and now I never ever want to read anything else from this character again. Nothing, and I do mean nothing will ever touch the stories, the structure, the sentiment that Moore, Delano and David gave us. It takes the greatest aspects of sci-fi, fantasy and superhero comic storytelling, mashes them all up into a short but transcendent run, then in a flash, and I do mean literally, as it ended so abruptly, I felt a tightness in my throat when I turned the page and realised it was over. A sudden loss I'm still reeling from, at least a little.
Moore's contribution, although amazing, was rather short. When it ended, I prepared for the inevitable drop in quality... but it never came. Quite how Delano was able to continue writing as if Moore never left, I'll never know. Alan Moore in his heyday was some hefty fuckin shoes to fill, and Delano filled them with aplomb. Even Alan David, whose has instantly leaped onto my favourite artists of all time list after this, was able to intermittently take over writing duties and acquit himself more than admirably. Sure, it wasn't quite Delano or Moore, but if the man could draw like that as well as write to beat the GOAT, then I would be calling a priest, cause there's no way the man could be human.
Despite my proselytising, this omnibus does have another 800 or so pages of content, which run the gamut from acceptable to good, to even great on very rare occasions. The silver age stuff, especially that featuring Captain America is cheesy as hell, with only the biggest silver age fans likely able to stomach it, yet its decent for what it is. Despite the dearth of material here, it really is the 3-400 pages that make this book what it is. It would be worth the price of this chunky boy for those few hundred pages alone. Sheer brilliance.
4.5/5 for the Davis run. 2.5/5 for all of the rest.


OmniBen.

[Jcscarlet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished reading the Captain Britain Omnibus. This book had a plethora of authors and artists, among them Chris Claremont, Alan Davis, and Alan Moore.
Spanning several series throughout 1976-1987, the character was originally developed as part of Marvel's British line. Though in canon, many of the comics collected were not easily found in the United States until collections such as these in recent years.
Captain Britain's origins are steeped in England's lore, his powers derived from Merlyn (and Merlyn's daughter Roma) and his adventures tend to take him outside the confines of the standards Marvel Universe and into the multiverse. In fact, the standard designation of the 616 universe originated from Captain Britain (though, it was a bit more flexible at the time).
This omnibus collected all the principle series that Captain Britain appeared in from his creation up until his X-Men association in the late '80s with the start of the England-based American series Excalibur. Throughout these collected series, recognizable characters such as Captain Britain's sister Betsy Braddock (widely known later as Psylocke), Meggan (a fairy/mutant hybrid), and Saturnyne (and her many variations) made their first appearances.
Many of the series collected were from comics that featured shorter stories for multiple heroes in a single issue (such as the Hulk, Daredevil, and surprisingly Captain America).
It took me quite a while to get into these comics. For a long time, I don't feel that Brian Braddock (Captain Britain) had much of a personality beyond being a British super hero. His villains were largely forgettable, and his supporting cast--while present--hardly did anything. While I enjoyed a lengthy run of Captain Britain's appearances in a black and white Black Knight comic, it wasn't until about 800 pages into the omnibus when Alan Davis and Alan Moore began writing him that Brian and his cast begun to feel like fleshed out characters.
It helped that this was also the time that Meggan was introduced and Betsy (Psylocke) began to have a larger role--the two characters I was most interest in reading about. Unfortunately, this was toward the end of the omnibus, so there was a great deal more of less-than-fascinating story work than the issues that primarily interested me.
Overall, I'd give it a 2 out of 5. While there were absolutely bright spots throughout, I struggled with short, highly episodic tales that primarily featured mostly forgettable characters. If I were listing the Davis and Moore issues alone, it would probably be a 4/5. They definitely breathed life into--in my opinion--a somewhat stagnant character.

[Dylan Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic British icon, this omnibus Collects All of captain britains original appearances From his own magazine to hulk backup stories featuring him and the black knight, He has been one of my favourite marvel characters for a long time so it was nice to finally read all of his original appearances in one big format, Ill break down the book in chunks of all the series that feature in this book.

His self titled series from 1977:
It starts off strong with kirby esque artwork and a classic origin mired with british mythology, The original series only normally had say 15-20 pages and the rest were reprints of other marvel comics at the time but this book contains just Cap's stories, He has some very intersting villains and they introduce a wide array of supporting characters such as his brother and sister Betsy and jamie braddock, His maid and Police inspector Dai thomas.
The villains in these stories are great too with characters such as the highwayman, Cyclone and slayback the assasin, The queen is featured in one of these issue's haha and although they like many others from this era are very much of their time, it is a nice window into what britain and its people looked like and their thoughts about the country.

Hulk backup story featuring merlin and the black knight:
Now this is a true fantasy epic, something i certainly wasnt expecting and although it was a big of a slog to get through, The black and white art in this is visually stunning and events that transpire here get mentioned in callbacks later in the series, It introduces the villainy of mordred and as fantasy was all the rage when this was originally published, it does make some sense.

Captain britains Next self titled series:
I dont remember much from this series but i do remember it being the first appearance of Tech-net and the crazy gang who make later appearances in excalibur, There are some cracking fight scenes between slaymaster and captain britain and betsy even takes up the mantle for a bit while cap's out of comission, I think this is the series where betsy loses her eye's which eventually leads into her becoming psylocke and it is also revealed in this series that she is a telepath and a mutant.

The Daredevils:
This is the cream of the crop for this Omnibus and the main reason i purchased it, It tells the story of Captain britain as he gets stuck on an alternate britain warped by mad jim jaspers and being hounded by A superhero killer called the Fury, I wont say much more but it is truly a classic superhero epic, Buy This Book if not just to read this story.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive look at classic Captain Britain comics - many of which were not released in the US. It begins in teh silver age and runs through the 1980s where Captain Britain was tied into the X-Men and eventually became Excalibur. As such, the comic is very uneven. It starts off good with Chris Claremont at the helm, creating a mythos for Captain Britain, adding side characters and so forth, but it quickly veers off course when Larry Lieber takes over and delves into generic Silver Age plots and villains. Captain Britain's origins the hero bestowed powers by Merlin and is then forced to maintain a secret identity while also attending school, is very Spider-Man and it takes a while to shake that off.

It begins to get good again with the Black Knight storyline. It shifts tone to a more grimdark fantasy element. After that it morphs into the Captain Britain we are all more familiar with, a new costume, the rob is gone, the weird sci-fi, multiple dimension, elements are put in. Then Alan Moore takes over and it becomes some of the best in the book. After he leaves, Jamie Delano becomes head writer and, while it is good, the action moves too fast. I feel he was still trying to find his place as a writer, because the pacing is off - not at all like his masterful stories we see in teh first issues of Hellblazer.

The book also gives several origins for Captain Britain which change as the lore deeps, which I found interesting. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but you might want to skip some of the black and white bits once Larry Lieber takes over.

[Hamza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really expected and wanted to love everything in this book, since I'd never read any of it before.

Despite Captain Britain's atrocious original costume, I really enjoyed all of the early stories written by Chris Claremont. I also really liked most of the stories that took place after CB's costume change, no matter how packed with ridiculous characters the book became. In particular, I of course loved all of the stuff written by Alan Moore, being an unabashed fanboy of his work, and developed a love for Alan Davis's artwork.

So, what didn't I like? For one thing, the terrible story wherein CB goes to an island with a bunch of people because they all won a "contest" set up by some lame, forgettable villain. That was truly one of the worst comic book storylines I've ever read. The Black Knight strip wasn't that bad, but seemed to go on forever even though each individual story was only a few pages long. And yes, the Imak printer in Turkey really did this book dirty with its incredibly thin pages.

Still, the sheer amount of material in this book that runs from CB's origin to just before he formed Excalibur, not to mention all of the extras in the back, made it worth the less-than-retail price that I paid for it, and I'm glad to have it in my collection.

Just don't ask me to read that island contest story arc ever again.

[Jameson · Rating 5 out of 5]

New omnibus fanatics: This book is a perfect example of the wisdom of waiting for a reprint. Granted, it took 13 years, but the first Captain Britain omnibus was fetching insane prices on the secondary market.

Most everyone buying this, I assume, is buying it for the Alan Moore stuff. Me, too, kinda, except I’m really buying it for the Alan Davis stuff. His Moore-less issues are great, too.

And the early Silver Age stories aren’t bad, but you have to be in the right kind of mood. As for the black and white sword and sorcery stories with the Black Knight, I skipped them. But maybe someday in the future I’ll get a kick out of them.

I’m just happy I have the early Brian and Betsy Braddock stories in omnibus form. Soon both will be incorporated into the regular xbooks and then the fun really begins. (I, for one, love non-Asian Betsy, both here and in X-Men. The trouble is I also love Asian Psylocke! Damn you, Jim Lee! No, damn Fabian Nicieza for not giving us Betsy and Kwannon both when he had the damn chance!)

[Jimbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit that I didn't have much knowledge of Captain Britain's early adventures, so reading them was kind of fun. (I know that Larry Lieber - Stan's brother - is considered a legend in the comics world, but honestly, his stories were something out of the fifties monster line. They didn't fit well with the seventies when Cap was first being a hero. The dialogue was stilted and almost sad (The dialogue was not all Lieber's fault though).

As the stories and the writers and artists became more put together, then the on going history of Cap became much more interesting.

Alan Moore and Alan Davis did some weird stuff, but it was very good material. It is best to say that they kept the story consistent and the history of Cap was well drawn and connected all the dots beautifully.

Big book though and heavy to heft around, but worth it in the long run.

[Hisham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive collection of all the Captain Britain focused stories published in the 70s and 80s before the start of Marvel's original Excalibur series. The highlights include early stories by Alan Moore and Alan Davis, the very first appearances of Captain Britain written by Chris Claremont, a Spider-man team-up drawn by John Byrne, and a multi-part storyline featuring the Black Knight.

This collection may have way more material than the typical Excalibur fan may want, but it you're still getting a lot of great stories that aren't reprinted frequently enough and stories that at least have historic value.

[Mj · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF at pg 407, with all intentions of picking it up again someday.

I got through all of the early BAM! POW! parts of Captain Britain, but stopped before the Moore/Davis run started to get weird with the characters. I liked it! It is wild to see the literal queen of England mind controlled by an African warlord or a wizard with a robot falcon doing wacky shit, but the early work just doesn’t have the pathos that I’ve come to expect from an X-Men adjacent character. Whenever I get back to this and wrap it up, I’m sure my rating will only go up.

[Marc Steiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Huge collection of all pre Excaliber Captain Britain

This omnibus lives up to its name with over 1300 pages of Captain Britain material from his first appearance through his various British serials onto an X-Men Annual in 1987. This includes a wide array of first class writers including but not limited to Chris Claremont, Alan Moore, and Jamie Delano along with great artists featuring a lot of Alan Davis' contributions.

[Shaun Phelps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Captain Britain starts with a bang, becomes immediately nauseatingly contrived and episodic, and then the Dark Knight story injects life and Alan Davis & Alan Moore warp Britain into a fascinating tale. While the contents of this intimidating & massive omnibus rarely hit the point of greatness I am glad I invested my time and patience. It was rough going for about 500 pages, though...

[Derek Pitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This kindle version of all of the CB Omnibuses rolled into one is SO comprehensive! Every single thing that needed including from Marvel U.K. could be found inside it, with the exception of the aborted IPC dummy issue.
I now need some Excalibur and Knights Of Pendragon collections to supplement this!
Oh, and the reproduction is brilliant!
😉

[Brett Dewing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff, formerly hard to find. While the original Captain Britain tales are full of Silver Age bombast, the highlights here are the amazing Arthurian quest, “Siege of Camelot”, and Alan Moore’s trademark dark brilliance in “The Jaspers Warp”! Both are impeccable examples of British comics.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man

[Sean McGinity · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collected edition reminds me why I love comics so much. This is a perfect collection. A complicated hero with an amazing surrounding cast of characters. Easily my favorite omnibus of all time.

[Will Templeton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some brilliant stuff later in the collection. The early stories were a bit pants, but I still loved them for the nostalgia value.